Thanksgiving & Dedication
Children are a wonderful gift from God, and we rejoice with you that you want to include Jesus in your parenting.
As a church, we offer a number of ways for parents to mark the birth of a child.
Children are significant to Jesus, he said (in the Bible), “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Below are answers to a few questions about how we are here to help and support you. It is best to arrange a conversation with one of our ministers so that we can together plan something appropriate for you and your child(ren).
You are Baptists, so will you baptise my child?
We are Baptists, this means that we baptise those who have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus. Most folk get baptised from about 14 years up. It is amazing to celebrate with someone who has made that choice. For this reason, we don’t usually baptise children because they are not yet able to make this choice. It excites us that because we don’t impose this choice on a child, they can grow up to make their own decision on the important matter of faith.
Do you do anything for children then?
Yes, for children and parents, we offer thanksgiving or dedication. We want to say thank you to God and help parents commit themselves to parenting their children with Jesus’ help. Both of these happen at the start of one of our church services. These are wonderful occasions for friends and family to come together to celebrate the children and their family.
What’s the difference between a thanksgiving and dedication?
A thanksgiving is a time of expressing our gratitude to God for the child and praying for them. A dedication, in addition, is when the parents also make some commitments to the way they are going to bring the child up with Christian values and want to seek Jesus’ support.
I’m not sure which would best suit my family, a thanksgiving or a dedication?
Don’t worry, together we can talk about which is best for you.
Do we have to be members of Upminster Baptist Church?
No, we’d love to talk to you about how we can help. As both the thanksgiving and dedication take place in church services, we would ask that you regularly come for a couple of months to our services so that the church can get to know you a little before we celebrate together.
What do I do now?
Contact one of our Ministers to arrange a time to have a coffee together.
Pastor Mark mark.davison@upminsterbaptists.org
or
Pastor Richard richard.shorter@upminsterbaptists.org